That Was a Look Almost Like Adoration
Shuofeng swept his long spear outward and stood before Ji Chaoyun. “Young Master, there is no need to worry. He is nothing more than a minor fox immortal. This subordinate will not let him harm you.”
Ji Chaoyun protected his abdomen as he took half a step back, his gaze still fixed on Bai Qiuyue.
Bai Qiuyue’s eyes had completely changed into eerie green vertical pupils, yet a faint smile still rested on his face, lending him an even more uncanny air.
“A minor fox immortal?” Bai Qiuyue laughed softly, his tone still mild. “Then Divine General, why not give it a try and see whether this minor fox immortal can steal him away from your hands?”
Shuofeng raised the point of his spear and was about to strike when Ji Chaoyun stopped him.
Ji Chaoyun looked at Bai Qiuyue, his brows tightly furrowed. “Bai Qiuyue, why are you doing this?”
“You’re asking me why?”
Ji Chaoyun said, “The Demon Clan is consumed by ambition, and Yan Huaqing is vicious and ruthless. Back then, they slaughtered their way through the Immortal Realm, and the Heavenly Fox Clan suffered heavy casualties as well. Wasn’t even your father killed at Yan Huaqing’s hands? Why would you still serve him?”
“Shut up.” Bai Qiuyue’s expression abruptly darkened. “Yan Huaqing... If you had not mentioned him, I would have forgotten. I truly should not kill you.”
Bai Qiuyue’s gaze slowly moved downward and settled on Ji Chaoyun’s abdomen. “The child in your belly is, after all, Feng Xiao’s flesh and blood. I should take it out and personally present it to His Excellency, leaving it for him to deal with as he pleases.”
His expression softened, and a certain yearning seemed to appear in those handsome, eerie green eyes. “If I use this as a gift for our first meeting, His Excellency will surely be very pleased.”
Bai Qiuyue had never shown Ji Chaoyun such an expression before.
He always seemed so unrestrained, elegant, and indifferent. Perhaps because he came from the Heavenly Fox clan, there was always something mysterious about the way Bai Qiuyue conducted himself, making him difficult to see through and equally difficult to approach lightly.
This was the first time Ji Chaoyun had ever seen such an expression on Bai Qiuyue’s face... one almost like adoration.
Bai Qiuyue... adored Yan Huaqing?
Ji Chaoyun’s expression changed slightly. “What exactly are you...”
Bai Qiuyue did not answer. He walked several steps forward and reached a hand toward Ji Chaoyun.
“Young Master, step back!” Shuofeng shouted, thrusting his spear toward Bai Qiuyue.
The spearpoint carried a torrent of divine power. Sparks burst through the air, gathering into a brilliant scarlet radiance like flame. Bai Qiuyue turned aside to evade it, drew a slender immortal sword from the void, unsheathed it, and struck directly against the point of Shuofeng’s spear.
Blades clashed in the courtyard, and waves of spiritual power spread outward. The force shook Ji Chaoyun half a step backward, leaving a slight tightness in his chest.
At that very moment, a gentle current of spiritual power rose from within his abdomen. Like a protective shell, it carefully enveloped his entire body.
Ji Chaoyun froze for a moment and placed his palm over his lower abdomen.
“So that’s how it was.” Ji Chaoyun murmured. “On the day of the Heavenly Rankings Tournament, you deliberately made trouble for me so I would faint before the match too, did you not?”
The gentle spiritual power quivered faintly, as though giving him a tiny response.
Ji Chaoyun smiled, his voice soft. “So you have been protecting me all along...”
Bai Qiuyue had once ranked second on the Heavenly Rankings, and his cultivation had already been somewhat weaker than Feng Qi’s before Feng Qi ascended to Heaven. Against Shuofeng, a Divine General and one of Feng Xiao’s personal guards, he naturally stood no chance.
If Shuofeng had not been here, Feng Qi would never have felt at ease leaving Ji Chaoyun behind.
Ji Chaoyun stood quietly to one side and watched the battle. Sand and stones flew throughout the courtyard as spiritual power churned violently, yet none of it could come anywhere near him.
A muffled impact suddenly sounded from ahead. Bai Qiuyue was sent flying by Shuofeng’s palm strike and crashed heavily through the courtyard gate. Several Divine Soldiers clad in light armor and cloaks filed in from outside, surrounding Bai Qiuyue on all sides.
A line of blood slowly slid from the corner of Bai Qiuyue’s mouth. He casually wiped it away with the back of his hand.
A drop of blood fell from his fingertip onto his plain white robe, spreading into a blood-red blossom.
“Overestimating yourself.” Shuofeng withdrew his spear and stood upright. He ordered, “The Divine One is already on his way back. Detain this man for now. We will hand him over to the Divine One for judgment once he returns.”
The Divine Soldiers answered, “Yes!”
Shuofeng turned toward Ji Chaoyun. “Young Master, are you injured?”
“I’m fine.” Ji Chaoyun stepped onto the stone bridge and quietly watched as the Divine Soldiers shackled Bai Qiuyue.
From beginning to end, Bai Qiuyue’s expression remained calm and indifferent. Even the faint smile at his lips had never disappeared.
Ji Chaoyun’s brows drew together slightly.
A strangely familiar yet deeply peculiar feeling rose in his heart.
He suddenly asked, “Why did you come here today?”
Bai Qiuyue raised his head. His eyes had already returned to their usual clear black. “I told you. I came to take you away.”
“Yet you knew this was a trap.”
“So what?” Bai Qiuyue said. “In truth, from the moment you fainted during the Heavenly Rankings Tournament, I realized that sooner or later, you would suspect me. If I tried to leave the academy at that time, it would only deepen your suspicions. Feng Qi’s troops are stationed throughout Hongmeng Mountain. If I wanted to leave, a battle would have been unavoidable.”
“Since this battle had to be fought no matter what, why should I not lure Feng Qi away first? Perhaps I might even have had the chance to take you with me.”
Ji Chaoyun gave a mocking laugh. “Very well. Even if there was nothing amiss with your actions this time, I still have the same question as before. Why did you conceal the presence of the child in my belly?”
Bai Qiuyue’s fingers moved as though he wanted to shrug, only for the chains around his wrists to clink softly. “Did I not already tell you? I wanted to kill you before everyone’s eyes.”
Ji Chaoyun walked up to him, leaned slightly closer, and asked in a low voice, “Who are you putting on this performance for?”
Bai Qiuyue’s expression abruptly stiffened.
Ji Chaoyun said, “You keep saying that you wanted to kill me, yet it seems to me that whether you killed me or took me away was never truly that important to you.”
“When you discovered that I was pregnant, your first action was to conceal the child’s presence. There was nothing wrong with that choice. Yet from that day until the Heavenly Rankings Tournament, you clearly had countless opportunities to kill me. Instead, you willingly risked having your lie exposed and waited until the final match of the tournament. Does that not prove that, in your eyes, killing me during the Heavenly Rankings Tournament mattered more than simply taking my life?”
“When the child in my belly was discovered, you realized that you would soon be exposed. Yet you are a Heaven-rank disciple and the clan leader of the Heavenly Fox clan. Over these past few days, you clearly had countless reasons to leave the academy openly and honorably, yet you did not.”
“You abducted Immortal Xihua and used Yunlucheng to divert our attention, all to lure Feng Qi away so you could come to Wenqu Peak and take me. This was the second performance you devised at the last moment after your plan during the Heavenly Rankings Tournament failed. Defeating all the Divine Soldiers lying in ambush single-handedly and seizing the person dearest to an ancient god from beneath layers upon layers of protection... This splendid performance was not meant for Feng Qi alone, was it?”
“...Who exactly are you performing for?”
“Hehe...” Bai Qiuyue suddenly began to laugh.
His shoulders shook continuously with laughter, making the chains around his wrists knock together with a soft rustling sound.
“A performance... You are absolutely right.” Bai Qiuyue said, “Little Dragon, have I ever told you that I actually liked you from the first time we met? No, that isn’t right. Even earlier than that. I had already been interested in you for a very, very long time.”
“I kept wondering what sort of person could possibly move an ancient god who had lived in this world for tens of thousands of years. What sort of person could make him surrender his most important spiritual core after merely three months together, willingly falling from a favored son of Heaven to become a cripple?”
“How foolish and naive must that person have been, yet so interesting that he was almost endearing.”
“I waited three hundred years. I never expected you truly would appear before me, and you were exactly as I imagined: innocent, kind, yet exceedingly interesting.”
Ji Chaoyun asked, “What exactly are you trying to say?”
“I’m saying that you’re very clever. You have guessed my intentions quite accurately.” Bai Qiuyue guided him patiently. “Then, clever Little Dragon, can you guess the answer to the question you just asked?”
Ji Chaoyun closed his eyes. “Yan Huaqing. Everything you have done was for Yan Huaqing.”
At the mention of that name, Bai Qiuyue’s expression softened of its own accord. His tone remained exceedingly patient. “Then why not guess again? Why have I done all of this?”
Ji Chaoyun did not answer.
This was also what Ji Chaoyun had never been able to understand.
The Heavenly Fox Clan had existed in the Immortal Realm for ages and had once been one of the clans that contributed the most to the war against the Demon Clan. Bai Qiuyue was the current clan leader of the Heavenly Fox clan. Why would he betray his clan, much less devote himself to Yan Huaqing?
Bai Qiuyue was around the same age as Feng Qi. By all reason, Yan Huaqing had already been sealed back within the Demon Realm by the time Bai Qiuyue was born. How could the two of them possibly have crossed paths?
“Can’t guess?” Bai Qiuyue leaned against the white courtyard wall. Surrounded by countless blades and spearpoints, he smiled calmly. “There is still plenty of time today. I might as well explain it to you.”
“Do you remember when I told you that my mother was already pregnant when she took part in the war between gods and demons? I never finished what I was saying that day. Do you know what happened to her afterward?”
For some reason, Bai Qiuyue’s smile made Ji Chaoyun deeply uneasy.
His eyes shifted slightly as he said in a low voice, “I heard that the former clan leader’s wife of the Heavenly Fox clan never recovered from the grievous wounds she suffered. During childbirth, she exhausted too much spiritual power, and after giving birth to a son, her spiritual power was depleted and she died.”
“The depletion of her spiritual power is true, but the other details are wrong.” Bai Qiuyue said, “During the war between gods and demons, my parents once made an error in judgment and were captured. Yan Huaqing was the one who captured them. Yan Huaqing personally killed my father before my mother’s eyes, yet he did not kill my mother. Do you know why?”
“Because he discovered me.”
“The fox clan leader was already dead. Regardless of whether the child was male or female, that child would become the next clan leader of the fox clan. That was why he spared my mother.”
Ji Chaoyun narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Why was he so certain you would fall under his control?”
“Under his control? I was never under his control.” Bai Qiuyue raised his head toward the sky, his eyes reflecting the boundless crimson clouds along the horizon. “None of you could ever understand what that feels like.”
“From the moment I was born, I could sense him. I could hear his voice, feel his emotions, and understand his ambitions. Everything I have ever sought in this life was merely to draw a little closer to him. He is my elder and closest kin, my teacher who imparted knowledge to me, and even my... other half.”
Ji Chaoyun’s eyes widened in horror. “Other half? You mean Yan Huaqing’s soul...”
“That’s right.” Bai Qiuyue turned his head and smiled. “Feng Qi has been searching all this time for the half of Yan Huaqing’s soul that remained in the Immortal Realm. In truth, it has always been me.”
“Yan Huaqing took my mother back to his encampment and imprisoned her there, secretly performing a soul-separation art.”
“Later, reinforcements arrived and rescued my mother. No one knew that half of Yan Huaqing’s soul had already entered her body and fused with the unborn child in her womb.”
“Later, the war between gods and demons ended, and the grievously wounded wife of the fox clan leader gave birth to a son. Do you know what the first words that infant heard after coming into this world were?”
Bai Qiuyue gazed toward the distant horizon and said softly, “That voice said, ‘Kill her.’”
☁︎₊˚⊹ The Author’s Jade-Slip Aside ⊹˚₊☁︎
A whole chapter of pure plot without the gong orz.
Not sure if everyone can accept this twist with Bai Qiuyue, doesn’t matter either way, he’s a villain, and the point of a villain is to farm experience points and get killed by the protagonist【 .】
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